The One With the Stressful Schedule
by LilyRaeK
Summary: Using the prompt "It can wait until tomorrow", Monica has a stressful time organising her catering bookings and Chandler swoops in at the last minute for some consoling and cuddles.


**I'm using a list of '100 Ways to Say I Love You' as a prompt for a bunch of fanfictions. Some will be used together but if anyone wants to use the list or read what may be coming up, I'll put the list in my bio on my profile. Just a warning, they will all be from different fandoms!**

 **62\. "It can wait until tomorrow"**

THE ONE WITH THE STRESSFUL SCHEDULE

Stressed was an understatement for how Monica was feeling right about now. Her catering business was receiving more business than ever before and she had no idea exactly how she was going to keep up with all the bookings by herself. There were appetisers to be organised, muffins to be baked, lamb joints to be matured and there was very little time.

She'd just about managed to get the month's plan sorted and colour-coded when she had a call from one of her clients cancelling their booking for their wedding because the wedding had been called off. Knowing that she couldn't bear to cross anything out on her beautifully highlighted and meticulously organised schedule, she let out a frustrated groan and started all over again on another piece of paper.

It was then that it occurred to her that there was no possible way to fulfil all of these bookings without some help so now she was given with the burden of finding new staff on top of everything else. And, of course, Monica could not just hire any old unemployed soul, it had to be someone who could cook to her standard, present to her standard and, most importantly, be organised to her standard.

Just then, rather unexpectedly, the door to Apartment 20 opened and in came Chandler.

"Hey Mon, how's it going?" he greeted, making his way to the fruit bowl in front of her and grabbing an apple from it, taking a large bite.

"How's it going? How's it going?! I have eight customers booked in, each with at least a week's worth of prep and only half the time to do it. How do you think I'm doing?!" Monica exploded. She had been holding all of her anger in because Rachel hadn't been home much while she was spending time at her mother's for the week of a family wedding so Monica had had no one to confide in for the past three days as Phoebe was also out of town. She needed a shoulder to cry on and just as she did, all her shoulders were away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down there," Chandler approached her slowly as she sighed in defeat and let her head fall against the table. "It's okay. We can fix this. Me and Ross will help you out and I'm sure the girls will too once they're back. It's not impossible, okay?" He bent down to look in her eyes while holding onto both of her hands.

"I just don't know what to do,"

Vulnerable was never Monica's go-to setting but she had always shown it to Chandler who had recently begun to look for signs of it. Ross's wedding was a clear exhibition of it and Chandler, knowing he was the only one who tends to see her like this, had taken pride in being able to successfully be the one to console her when things started to go south.

He reached out his arms from his kneeling position in front of her chair and she leant into them gratefully. He kissed her hair and rocked her back and forth whispering words of encouragement in her ear all the time.

"Come on, what do you say about me and you going for a lie down to watch TV on the couch?" he suggested softly.

"I think that sounds wonderful,"

He slowly stood and led her by her hand to the couch where they both sat softly. Leaning back against the arm rest, he tugged on her hand encouraging her to lie down next to him where he turned on the television to find some rom-com or animated film that neither of them needed to pay much attention to.

Slowly, tangled in each other, they both fell asleep in front of the television, which is how Chandler woke about an hour later, to find his arms missing a Monica shaped object.

"Mon?" he murmured groggily.

"Over here," she replied quietly.

Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and noticed her sat back at the table, hand tugging at her hair, eyes flitting over the many schedules and sheets laying before her. Chandler groaned as he took in the sight before him, acknowledging the fact that, by the look on her face, she hadn't gotten much further with her new plan.

"Hey, what did I say about you leaving that?" he said gently.

"Actually, you didn't." she muttered defiantly.

"Well, you should. Come on, Mon, it's almost midnight. You won't get any work done on it tomorrow if you are overtired. Maybe it'll stop looking so bad if you look at it with a fresh head in the morning." He reached out and tugged her arm. She pulled it back.

"Chandler, I need to do this,"

"Not now, you don't. Come on, let's go to bed. It can wait until tomorrow, can't it?"

"I guess so," she huffed, giving in. "I'll go get ready for bed."

She disappeared into the bathroom to clean her teeth and change into one of Chandler's old t-shirts. Chandler wandered off to Monica's bedroom where he undressed down to his boxers and a spare pair of pyjama trousers that he now kept at Monica's and clambered under the covers. A few minutes later, Monica herself padded into the bedroom and placed her day's clothes into the laundry basket in the corner of her room. She turned and took in the appearance of her delightfully sweet boyfriend, wrapped up in her covers.

"Come 'ere," he murmured to her and following the instruction, she padded over to him and got under the covers herself moving herself closer to him to feel the warmth radiating from his body. She hummed contently as she fell asleep, finally letting herself relax. So the problem couldn't be solved immediately as she so likes to happen, but she knew that she had Chandler to help her get through any problem she faced.


End file.
